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In terms of EU staff joining the trust, staff from the EU made up 22.3% of those who joined between December 2014 and December 2015, but just 13.6% of those who joined between December 2016 and June 2017.

There were 135 members of staff from the EU who joined the trust between December 2014 and December 2015, compared to 47 between December 2016 and June 2017.

At the Surrey and Borders Partnership, staff from the EU made up 7.4% of leavers between December 2014 and December 2015 - a total of 28 - but this had risen to 14.6% of leavers between December 2016 and June 2017 - a total of 27.

The trust has seen the proportion of joiners who are from the EU fall from 10.8% between December 2014 and December 2015 - or 32 people - to 9% between December 2016 and June 2017 - a total of 21 people.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust lost 50 staff members who were EU nationals in the six months to June 2017 compared with 57 in the last full year before the referendum

The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has sought to reassure NHS employees from the EU that they continue to be welcome in the UK.

However, the British Medical Association has warned that almost half of the 10,000 EU doctors working in the UK were considering leaving in light of the result.

Nationally, the BBC's analysis found that EU nationals make up a larger share of staff leaving NHS jobs after the referendum than they did before it.

From December 2014 to December 2015 there were 7,535 EU nationals who left NHS jobs. That meant they made up 5.6% of all NHS workers leaving their jobs.

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The following year, they accounted for 6.6% of all leavers, and in the first six months of this year, they made up 7.4%.

The proportion of EU staff joining the NHS has also fallen nationally over the same period, from making up 10% of new staff in December 2014 to December 2015, down to 8.2% in the first six months of this year.

The same pattern is being seen when just looking at nurses working in the NHS.

Nurses from the EU made up 7.6% of those leaving the NHS in December 2014 to December 2015, but this had risen to 11.5% in the first six months of this year.

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In terms of those joining the NHS, nurses from the EU made up 18.2% in December 2014 to December 2015, but 10.4% in the first six months of this year.

Danny Mortimer, co-convenor of the Cavendish Coalition, a group of 37 health and social care organisations which have come together to ensure staffing needs are met after Brexit, said: "The BBC's analysis is really clear. There has been a change in 2015/16. Our experience before 2015/16 was that there were certain parts of our workforce that were a little bit more volatile - we would have some people come and stay for a year for example.

"[Now] our members don't feel able to recruit in big numbers. There are practical challenges, like the exchange rate is weak - and the number of people choosing to leave is increasing."

The British Medical Association said that with the NHS already at breaking point, any fall in doctor numbers would be concerning, as it would lead to greater rota gaps, more pressure on existing staff and would affect the delivery of high-quality care.

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All the experts agreed that while increasing the number of medical school places was welcome, the amount of time it takes for people to be fully trained means that these extra doctors would not fill any short-term gaps in experienced staff.

A Department for Health spokesperson said: "There are 3,193 more EU nationals working in the NHS than at the time of the referendum — we have been absolutely clear that these staff play a vital role in the NHS and want to see their excellent work continue long after the UK leaves the EU.

"However, we recognise the NHS also needs more home-grown staff, so we'll be training an extra 1,500 doctors and 10,000 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals a year by 2020 to ensure the NHS has the workforce it needs both now and in the future."

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